time-savers

Fonolo's deep dialer comes to the iPhone

Enthusiasts of deep dialing, or calling, to a specific part of a large phone tree are likely to enjoy Fonolo's new iPhone application.

The app, offers free of charge, includes most of the features found on Fonolo's Web site. The main attraction, of course, is being able to dig through a company's entire phone structure and get connected without having to waste phone minutes (and precious moments of your life) listening to automated prompts.

Using the app requires having a Fonolo account. While a pain, this serves two purposes. One is to sync your dialing history between … Read more

Easy-to-use macro program

Perfect Keyboard Lite allows users to easily record text and macros to be used later on, saving time for users who find themselves typing the same things over and over. Even novice macro users will be able to benefit from this intuitive program.

The program's interface is clean and easy to navigate; it should be easy for users who know anything about macros to get started. For those who don't, the built-in Help file provides plenty of guidance, including a section on macro language basics. Users who only need to use the program for text purposes--to insert blocks … Read more

Send free voice-to-text messages from your cell phone with Jott

You know the old trick of leaving yourself a voice-mail reminder? Jott does that idea one better, turning your message into text that's delivered via e-mail. All you do is call Jott from your cell phone, then say your piece. The service transcribes your message and sends it to your inbox.

But that's just the tip of the Jott iceberg. By setting up an address book on the Jott site, you can also have messages delivered (via e-mail and/or text message) to friends, family members, co-workers, etc. You can "Jott" a new entry to your … Read more

There is such a thing as too much "time-saving"

There is such a thing as too much "time-saving." I worry that our 24/7 culture is creating instant-gratification expectations for even low-tech experiences.

I was worried that our 7-year old was getting hooked on high-tech immediacy, but even she realized that the TV ad for "Roll 'N Grow," the "miracle garden in a box" was pretty ridiculous. Talk about inventing a problem that isn't a problem. The pitchman blared in an alarmed tone, "You hoe and your rake, you shovel and you ache, and for what? Flowers that might not grow? Forget all that work.....Cut & place or just roll and grow!"… Read more

Clippings makes browsing and online shopping easier

Clippings is a superhandy Firefox browser extension that allows you to easily paste text from a list of saved clipboards. It may sound boring, but using Clippings for Web forms and multiple e-mail signatures lets you complete those tasks more quickly, saving your keystrokes for something more important, such as actual communication.

Clippings installs as a contextual menu. Right-clicking an empty form or writing area lets you select a saved snippet from your clipboard. It took me only a minute or two to set up a fairly extensive list of commonly used entries.

The big question: How is Clippings better … Read more